Help For Stranded On Turnpike To Be Just A Cellular Call Away

You're driving alone on the Pennsylvania Turnpike when your car breaks down. Stranded, with no other cars visible, you pick up your cellular phone and dial *11. Within minutes, help has arrived.

Beginning July 4, this scenario will become reality for cellular phone users driving the Turnpike.

This month seven cellular phone companies signed a contract with the Turnpike Commission to operate the first highway hot line.

Using the toll-free three-digit number, drivers will be able to contact directly the Harrisburg Turnpike communication center in case of emergencies.

Before the hot line, drivers had to contact local police, who then contacted the Turnpike communication center.

Approximately 260,000 vehicles drive the Turnpike daily, and although there are few fatal accidents, more than 4,000 less serious accidents occur a year, said Sally Branca, a spokeswoman for the Turnpike.

In this age of high mobility, safety has become a major concern for drivers, said Bernie Evers, spokesman for Cellular One in Allentown.

And when it comes to roadside emergency situations, cellular phones provide drivers with that extra security, Evers said.

"It's a win-win situation. With the increased number of vehicles on the road, we need to get to accidents more quickly," Branca said.

Because cellular phone users will be contacting the communication center directly, dispatchers will be able to send the best type of assistance to an emergency site.

Nationally, 3.5 million people subscribe to cellular phones, and an estimated 250,000 cellular calls are made on the emergency 911 system each month. Ninety-eight percent of those calls are valid emergencies, according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association.

Except for a 78-mile stretch along the western end of the Turnpike, most of the 470-mile highway will be serviced by the hot line beginning July 4.

The cost of the hot line is being absorbed by the cellular phone companies, with the Turnpike spending approximately $5,000 on posting blue and white signs along the highway to advertise the new system, said state Rep. Jon D. Fox, R-153rd District, who suggested the idea to the Turnpike.

Constituents called Fox asking for a system that would allow them to contact police, fire and ambulances while on the road, Fox said.

"The Turnpike Commission said, `We'll look into it,' and they did," he said.

Branca said the hardest part of the plan was getting the cellular phone companies to agree on a contract. In order to make the high-tech system work, all the cellular companies along the stretch of the Turnpike had to participate.

"(The cellular companies) are out to make money. But we have to realize also that we have a lot of power, and we can offer services to the community that they need," Evers said.

Because people are using cellular phones as a means of personal welfare, cellular companies see this opportunity as a service to the community, he said.